夜行性（英文：Nocturnality），是一种动物行为，形容这些生物会于日间休息，却在晚间活跃，正好与我们所熟悉的日行性行为相反。也有介乎两者之间，于黄昏时期出没的生活习性。昼伏夜出的习性是一种生态位分化的表现，不过并不以资源的多寡来决定，而是根据时间本身。另外夜行性也可看成是一种避敌（Crypsis）行为，避过有较多猎食者活跃的时间，从而减少被捕猎的机会。

避开日间猛烈的阳光也可以是生物选择夜行性的一大因素，特别是在沙漠生活的生物，就会为了减少散失身体的水份而选择于晚间活动。夜行性也有助生物适应较好的渗透调节。

Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by activity during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal".

Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed senses of hearing, smell, and specially adapted eyesight. Such traits can help animals such as the Helicoverpa zea moths avoid predators. Some animals, such as cats and ferrets, have eyes that can adapt to both low-level and bright day levels of illumination (see metaturnal). Others, such as bushbabies and (some) bats, can function only at night. Many nocturnal creatures including tarsiers and some owls have large eyes in comparison to their body size in order to compensate for the lower light levels during the night. More specifically, these animals have been found to have a larger cornea relative to their eye size than diurnal creatures, in order to increase their visual sensitivity in the low light conditions. Nocturnality helps wasps such as Apoica flavissima avoid hunting in intense sunlight.